Ivana Trgovina (Mali Dućan Matejuška) Split, Croatia

When a place is regarded as the best bottle shop in a city it is always a great opportunity to stop in and see how the locals buy beer. I arrived to find a line out the door of the very small one room shop. Almost all of the beer was hidden behind the counter in coolers too far away to see a name, description and price. I attempted to see what was in the coolers, but my limited knowledge of Croatian craft beer left me with little idea of what to buy. The never ending line also meant asking for advice would be difficult. I decided to dip out and come back later with a better idea of what I wanted.

After some dinner and research I came back to find a similar line of locals coming in and out with bottles of pale lager to take and drink by the water. As my turn approached I got out my list of Croatian bottles I was interested in and tried to find them on the shelf behind the counter in vain. I ran down my list with the woman behind the counter and was only able to get one of the bottles on my list. She was quick and knew what they had but was only interested in keeping the line moving.

Ivana Trgovina (Mali Dućan Matejuška) is more like a kiosk than a bottle shop. If you find yourself in Split looking for bottles of beer it is worth it to stop by, but I would recommend having a firm idea of what you are looking for. Prices for the Croatian beer seemed reasonable (I paid about €2 for a Zmajska Pivovara Pale Ale), but I have no idea if the bottles from other countries are priced well. I did recognize some German, Belgian and American craft beer labels in the coolers. While it was a quick and weird experience, I was able to at least get something I was interested in trying.